


Black Magic Woman

by naughtyspinster



Series: Supernatural: Family Business [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Other, Supernatural AU - Freeform, Supernatural AU Next Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-17
Updated: 2013-02-16
Packaged: 2017-11-29 13:59:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/687765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naughtyspinster/pseuds/naughtyspinster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Johnathan Samuel and his cousin, Robert Dean, are spending their summer vacation from Stanford University traveling around the country. On their way to visit John's fathers, Dean and Castiel, they make a quick stop in Nebraska after some witchy pranks plague the town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ch. 1

Ch. 1 

The ’67 Impala cruised down the road with no real destination other than anywhere but home. It was nearing midnight and there hadn’t been a single motel in the past two-hundred miles.

Rob shifted in the passenger seat, growing increasingly tired of the silence. It had only taken him and his cousin, John, a few minutes to discover that their taste in music varied too widely for either of them to agree. Rob preferred classical music. John, on the other hand, would quicker pop in a CD of Led Zeppelin than “Some dead German guy.”

There was an attempt at converting the younger man to a more refined palette, but it was in vain. No sooner had Rob said Tchaikovsky than John vetoed it and substituted it with Aerosmith, which Rob was just not going to stand for.

There was a fight. Pachelbel suffered a mortal wound but damn if he didn’t take Pink Floyd with him. Thankfully, a ceasefire was put in place between the kingdoms of Screeching-Tone-Deaf-Imbeciles and Ivory-Tickling-Powdered-Wig-Wearing-Bozos before any serious damage happened to the Impala, or her passengers.

An hour later, Rob couldn’t take it anymore. He had to say something to break the silence.

“Do you ever think about how we were conceived?”

“No,” John spat out too quickly. “No, I do not. And neither do you.”

“Oh, come on, aren’t you the least bit curious?”

“No, and you want to know why? Because there are just some things that no one needs to know.”

“But –”

“No.”

“You can’t –”

“Stop.”

“John –”

“I swear to God, Robert, I will crash this car, right now!”

Rob heaved a sigh and sat back in his seat. The silence filled the car once again. “Do you think they turned into women –”

The Impala squealed to a stop and Rob threw the gear into park. He unbuckled himself and launched himself across the seat and wailed into his cousin’s arm.

Rob tried to defend himself, but John’s knee pinned down one of his arms, while his own body pinned down the other.

“Ow, ow! Stop it! Why are you such a baby sometimes?” Rob snapped, shoving John back over to his side of the car.

“Why do you have to think about things you have no business thinking about?” John retorted. “No one needs to know how or why or what or anything about that. No one. Not you. Not me. Not anyone! Got it?”

“Got it.”

“Good.”

John threw the Impala into gear. They continued to drive along, but Rob refused to do so in silence.

“Okay, we won’t talk about that, but can we at least talk about something?”

“Sure, we’ll talk. What do you want to talk about?”

“How was your semester?”

John shrugged into his seatbelt. “Not bad for the end of my freshman year.”

“Was that the same freshman year that I had to save your ass from getting arrested, and expelled? Twice.”

John smiled and nodded. “But, man, wasn’t she worth it? She was at least a seven, Robbie.”

“She was the Dean’s daughter, John.”

“Okay, okay, she was an eight, but I’m not going any higher.”

Rob rolled his eyes with a laugh. “You are unbelievable.”

“And, what about you? How was your junior year? How does it feel to finally be a senior?”

Rob shrugged. “You mean how does it feel to be the first person in our family to graduate from college?”

“Yeah, that.”

“I don’t know, Johnny. I know Dad’s proud of me. He’s been wanting this ever since I was born. And I know he wants me to go to grad school – I was kind of hoping that this would be the end of the line.”

“I thought you wanted to be a lawyer.”

Rob looked out the car window. “I don’t know anymore. I mean, yes, I did want to be a lawyer. But now, I’m not so sure. Dad was so proud of me when I got accepted into Stanford. I don’t know, maybe I’m just still stressed out from the end of the semester. Do you know how many hours I had to take?”

“Twenty-one.”

“Twenty-one! I was so ready for this year to be over. But even then, I still have to take thirty-six more hours next year – just to qualify for grad school.”

“Dude, I barely survived twelve.”

“You barely survived high school. How the hell you got into Stanford is beyond me.”

“What can I say? I’m a genius”

“You’re lucky.”

“Lucky genius.”

Rob smiled and shook his head. He jumped as his phone vibrated in his pocket. He fished it out and looked at the caller ID. “John, is your phone off?”

“Why?”

“Because that’s the only reason your dad would be trying to call me,” Rob said, sliding his finger across the screen.

“No, don’t –!”

“WHERE THE HELL IS THAT LITTLE BASTARD?!”

“Hello to you, too, Uncle,” Rob said, holding the phone away from his ear.

“But that little shit on the phone RIGHT NOW! I’m going to kill him!”

“He’s speaking metaphorically,” another voice piped in.

“Like hell I’m speaking metaphorically! I’m going to metaphorically kick his ass!”

“Did you ‘borrow’ the car again?” Rob groaned at John.

“Borrow? Borrow! Oh, that’s brilliant! Oh, yeah, he ‘borrowed’ it! He borrowed it right out from under my goddamn nose! You tell him that if he and my baby are not in this garage before noon tomorrow, I will track him down and tie him to the hood like a goddamn deer!”

“A metaphorical deer.”

“Yes, Cas! A metaphorical deer! Do you mind? I’m yelling at our son, here.”

“Yes, I do mind you yelling at our son.”

“Would you rather me yell at you?”

“I would rather you not yell at all.”

Rob exchanged a look with John, who just shook his head, as his parents continued to argue. Rob rolled his eyes, then cleared his throat. “Guys, guys! I think he got the message. I will make sure that John returns the car to you, first thing in the morning.”

“Traitor,” John spat.

“Thank you, Robert,” the angrier uncle said. “I’m glad to know that one of you is responsible.”

“Love you, too, Dad,” John muttered under his breath.

“Noon, tomorrow, or your ass is grass!”

“We’ll be there, Uncle Dean,” Rob assured him. “Bright an early.”

“And don’t skip breakfast!”

“Yes, sir. Goodnight, Uncle –”

“And don’t forget to fill up the gas tank! And check the tire pressure!”

“Yeah, we’ll do that – yes, I’m writing it down. No, I’m not lying. Okay, I’ll send you a picture of me writing it down. Goodnight – yes, Uncle Dean, okay, we’re pulling up to a motel right now. No, sir, no all-night driving. That would be irresponsible. Goodni – yes, sir. Yes, I will. Love you, too, Uncle Dean. I’ll tell him. Goodnight – okay. Okay. Goodnight!”

Rob hung up the phone and pinched the bridge of his nose. “He says to turn your damn phone on so he doesn’t have to waste minutes calling outside of his plan to yell at you.”

“Cheapskate.”

“Yeah, well, you shouldn’t have stolen his car. You know how much he loves this thing.”

“I didn’t steal it. I borrowed it,” John defended himself. “And besides, I’m the one who’s been keeping this thing alive for the past fifteen years. He’s been making me fix since I was old enough to hold a wrench.”

“That doesn’t mean you have the right to steal it.”

“Morals, morals, morals. Always morals with you.”

“Hey, if I don’t keep you on the straight and narrow, and you get arrested, I’m going to get arrested as an accessory. Do you know what that means?”

“No grad school?”

“No grad school! And that is just an option.”

“Wait, hold on. A minute ago, you didn’t even know if you wanted to go to grad school.”

Rob opened his mouth to retort, then heaved a sigh and looked down at his phone as if it had all the answers. Of course it never had any answers at all. What good was an iPhone if it didn’t solve his existential crisis. He had half a mind to throw it out the window.

“Rob? Robbie? Robert!”

Rob snapped awake, not realizing he had fallen asleep. “What – are we being attacked?”

“No, dude, we’re here.”

“Where’s here?”

“Welcome to the reason we won’t be able to meet Dad on time tomorrow!”

“Oh, no, what have you done?”


	2. Ch. 2

Ch. 2

Robbie rolled over on the lumpy, rock hard motel mattress and away from the morning sun that came through the all-too-thin lace curtains. He pulled the pillow over his face and let the weight of his arm hold it down. Unfortunately, a horrible sound emanated from the bathroom, accompanied by the sound of the shower running.

Rob rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. After half a semester of cramming for tests and spending his weekends in the library with his study group, he hadn’t had time to gallivant around the country taking on jobs like John did. Of course, John was less concerned with his schoolwork than he was with stealing his father’s car and reenacting various scenes from the Dukes of Hazard.

It had been Spring Break when the cousins had last taken on a case together. Of course, Rob had been hoping that John had grown out of serenading the complex every morning in that short amount of time.

But the screeched rendition of Kansas’s Carry On, My Wayward Son coming from the bathroom dashed all of his hopes and dreams. 

Rob combatted the noise with the pillow, but it did little to drown it out. It continued as John turned off the water, which had actually done a surprising amount of sound absorption. 

“Lay your weary head to rest! Don’t you cry no more!” John squawked out the last notes as he came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. “Good morning, sunshine!”

Rob groaned and idly waved a hand at him, not wanting to remove the pillow and join the real world just yet. Later in the day, he would admire his younger cousin for his ability to wake up before eight and be ready by nine, but at the moment, he was silently cursing him.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

Well, maybe not so silently.

John pulled on a pair of pants, before jumping up onto the foot of Rob’s bed and bouncing. Rob kicked at him, but missed. “Up and at ‘em, Lazy McLazerson!”

“Why can’t you sleep till noon like a normal college freshman?”

“Not a fish any more, remember? Now, I’m one quarter of the way to being decent member of society!”

“God forbid,” Rob groaned, trying to kick him again. 

John leapt over to his own bed and pulled on the shirt he had laid out for himself. “Come on, buddy boy! If we’re going to do anything my dad said to do, we can at least get some breakfast. And after that, we have a job to do.”

“Yeah, a job that our parents specifically told us not to take.”

“If they didn’t want us to take this job, they shouldn’t have taught us how to hack into people’s emails.”

“You hacked into your Dad’s email?”

“Oh, like you don’t,” John huffed, pulling on his socks and shoes. “I even set it up so that if he gets any emails with certain keys words, they get automatically forwarded it to me.”

“Uncle Dean was right. You are a little bastard.”

John gave him a crooked smile before opening his laptop and pulling up the email. “According to one of Dad’s friends in the business, there have been a few incidents in the past couple of years in this town. There’s been a run of bad luck.”

“Any deaths?”

“Actually, no. None. Just weird stuff. Last week a guy thought that a wild animal had gotten into his house, but when he went to go check, he blacked out and woke up naked and tied to the flag pole outside of city hall. And before that, two hunters went missing and turned up two weeks later convinced that they were frogs.”

“Sounds pretty benign to me.” 

“Yeah, well, a couple of days ago, a woman was walking across the street when she saw a black cat sitting on the other side, like it was waiting for her. She decided to go back across the street, away from the cat and as soon as she got back, two cars crashed into each other, exactly where she was standing. And then it happened two more times that day.”

Rob propped himself up on his elbow. “You’re not thinking witchcraft, are you?”

John flashed his award-winning smile. “That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

“No, no. No. John, no. We have never dealt with witches before.”

“Yeah, because our dads don’t think we can handle it.”

“We can’t!”

“Of course we can! Look, all of these things are just parlor tricks! The witch probably isn’t even all that powerful.”

“Or she’s the most powerful witch in the whole world and we just walked right into her territory, willingly!”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.”

“Yeah, and you only die once,” Rob reminded him, pulling the covers up to his shoulders and rolling away from him. “You go and get turned into a frog. I’m going back to sleep.”

John grabbed two fistfuls of Rob’s blanket and yanked them and the man they were wrapped around off of the bed and onto the floor. Rob stared up at him, his expression going from shock to murderous. John leapt out of his reach as the taller man struggled to get to his feet, only managing to get tangled in the sheets.

John tap-danced around him, as Rob lashed out at him with his free arm. He caught his ankle and pulled him down. John dug his fingers into the carpet, but Rob still managed to drag him closer and repay him for the multiple bruises he received on his arm the night before.

\--

John hissed slightly as the hot coffee touched the busted lip his cousin had given him. Rob looked up at him, hiding a smirk behind a forkful of lettuce. John glared at him before angrily tearing off a piece of toast with his teeth. They continued to eat without speaking to each other when the waitress came by to refill their coffee.

“How are y’all enjoying yourselves?” she asked, leaning on John’s side of the booth, batting her eyes at him.

John swallowed the food in his mouth and washed it down with the rest of the coffee in his mug. “I’m enjoying myself quite well, thank you!”

The waitress smiled coyly as she refilled his mug. “You – uh, you two, staying very long?”

“No. We’re leaving as soon as we’re finished eating,” Rob said.

“Oh, come on, I don’t see why we can’t stay another day or two,” John pleaded, giving the waitress as sly wink, earning him a kick in the shins from his cousin.

“I’m afraid we’re just passing through. We have a family engagement we cannot be late for.”

“Oh, I’m sure they won’t miss us, Rob” John said, kicking him back.

“Oh, I’m sure they will,” Rob said with a warning glare. “Can we have the check please?”

“Sure I can’t interest you in some dessert? We have some fresh apple pie –”

“Pie!” John bounced happily in his seat, drumming his hands on the table. 

Rob rolled his eyes. “One slice of pie, but then I would really like to get that check.”

“Sure thing,” she smiled, sauntering away, leaving John to his bouncing and salivating over pie.

Rob reached over the table and smacked him in the back of his head to get his attention. “What the hell is wrong with you? Can’t you keep it in your pants for five minutes?”

“But, pie!” John whined.

“I’m not talking about the pie, you dork. I’m talking about the waitress. And the waitress before her. And the waitress before her! You’re like a shark, except instead of swimming, if you stopped having sex, you’d die!”

“Sharks die if they stop having sex?”

Rob’s jaw dropped slightly, not sure of how to respond. He shook his head, and took a sip of coffee to wash out the foul taste in the back of his throat. “You know what, I’m going to make a bet with you. I bet that you can’t go without some kind of sexual stimulation for twenty-four hours.”

John rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. At least make it a challenge, Robbie.”

Rob laughed to himself and leaned over the table. “I’m not talking about just sex, Johnny Boy. I’m talking about the whole nine yards. No sex, no fooling around, no flirting and no hogging the bathroom for an hour for ‘alone time.’”

John felt his heart sink in his chest. “That’s – are you Satan?”

Rob took out his wallet from his back pocket and dropped the hundred dollar bill he had been saving since Christmas on the table. “One hundred dollars for twenty-four hours.”

John shifted in his seat. “Fine, you’re on!”

Rob tapped the table, making John scrunch up his nose. He fished out his own wallet and dropped a handful of bills on the table. Rob reached over to scoop them up. John grabbed him by the wrist and squeezed.

“Excuse you, what do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m protecting my investment,” Rob said, snatching his hand and the money away. “And if we’re going to be honest about this, I’m the only one of us who can actually be trusted to hold onto two hundred dollars without spending it on strippers or –”

“Here’s your pie, gentlemen,” the waitress said in a singsong voice, giving John a wink.”  
John smiled up at her when Rob cleared his throat. His smiled faded and he sat back in the booth, feigning disinterest. The waitress looked at him in confusion, then placed the check on the table.

“Enjoy, boys.”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Rob teased, as she walked away.

“You are Satan,” John muttered, taking a bite of the pie.”

A screech of tires filled the air, followed closely by a loud crash. The boys jumped up in their booth and looked at the window to see that two cars had collided at an impossible angle. On one side of the street, an older woman was on the verge of collapsing from shock. She was screaming and crying incoherently as a couple of people kept her from falling over.

Across the street, a black cat strolled away, minding it’s on business.

John looked at Rob with a huge grin, taking over half of his face.

Rob heaved a sigh. “If you get us killed by a witch, I’m going to castrate you.”


	3. Ch. 3

Ch. 3

“It went this way!” John yelled, taking a sharp turn around a corner and nearly falling on his face. He scrambled to keep his balance, but finally managed to stay up. He ran down the street then skidded to a stop.

Rob, who had decided not to run after the cat, soon joined him, not surprised at all that John had lost their target. He looked around, while John tried to catch his breath.

“It’s – around – here – somewhere,” John said, trying to slow his breathing.

“Oh, good. I was beginning to think you had been outsmarted by a cat.”

“Found it!” John ducked down an alley. There was a scream, then a crash, then the cat trotted from the alley completely unharmed.

It looked at Rob, then turned away with indifference. John staggered from the alley shortly after.

“I hate cats.”

“The feeling is mutual, I’m sure.”

The cat leapt onto a picket-fence then over the side into the yard beyond.

John made to chase after it again, but Rob put his arm in front of him, and pointed at the weathered sign hanging in the gate’s archway.

“’Ye Olde Magick Shoppe,’” John scoffed. “They’re not even trying.”

“I don’t like this,” Rob said, his brow furrowed. “John, I – John!”

John froze halfway through the gate. “What?”

Rob let out a loud groan and followed him. As he stepped through the gate, he felt if he was stepping into another world. It wouldn’t have been the first time, but that didn’t make it any less unsettling. He could have sworn that the house looked like it had seen better days from the other side of the fence, but inside, they were greeted by a beautiful, flourishing garden.

“These flowers,” Rob said, admiring the vast variety of flora. “I recognize these from spell books.”

“Then we’re in the right place,” John said.

“But none of these are particularly dangerous. These are for beauty spells, health and wealth, and just longevity spells. There’s nothing here that would suggest hexing or curses.”

“So? Maybe she keeps all of the bad stuff inside, in the basement. Or the attic. Or a creepy secret room that all witches seem to have.”

“Let’s just be careful, okay? I’m not entirely convinced that the witch is inside there, or if we’re even dealing with a witch at all.”

“What else could we possibly be dealing with?”

“Well, I would be able to sense if it was a trickster, so we can cross that off the list.”

“All right, you stay out here and contemplate geraniums. I’m going to go inside and find the witch.”

John went up the porch steps, without waiting for Rob to respond. Rob groaned and went up after him. John rang the doorbell and the two of them stood there while nothing happened. John rang the doorbell again, but there was still no answer. When he went to knock on the door, it creaked open before he even touched it. The cat ran inside, which made them feel slightly more uneasy.

John put his hand on the door, and slowly pushed it open the rest of the way. “Hello?”

Rob held him back and took the first step into the house. “Hello? Is anyone home?”

The house was empty, but the scent of lavender filled the air, giving the sense that it hadn’t been that way for long.

Rob inched further into the house, taking note of the shelves full of dried herbs, candles and incense. He waved John in, who quickly joined his side. The door slammed shut behind them.

John turned the knob, breathing a sigh of relief when it opened. “The wind, maybe?”

Rob nodded and stuck his head through an archway. What was once a parlor room was now a room full of various trinkets and a wide collection of books. He recognized several of the trinkets as religious talismans. He reached behind him for John, but he only caught air.

“John!” he hissed, quietly. “Where the hell are you?”

“Dude! You got to see this!” John called from the other room.

Rob followed the sound of John touching things to find the younger man balancing on one foot while he extended an arm in a Tai Chi pose. In his hand, he held an ancient Tibetan sword. 

“It’s exactly like the one at home!” John laughed, doing a quick twirl and stopping the blade mere millimeters from Rob’s neck. Despite not being to control himself from touching anything, the control he had over a weapon was beyond phenomenal.

Rob snatched the blade from his hand and smacked the hilt on his head. “Will you stop goofing off, idjit? This is your case, remember?”

“What?” John said, taking the sword back. “This isn’t goofing off. This is investigating. I’m investigating all of this really cool stuff.”

“Put that away. You’re going to break something and unleash some hellish curse.”

“Oh, come on, I haven’t done that since I was twelve,” John huffed, returning the sword to its stand.

“Yeah, and it took all four of our dads two years to fix all the damage you caused. Now stop touching stuff.”

John made a face and slid his hands into his pockets. “Happy?”

“Ecstatic.”

The grandfather clock chimed noon, making the boys jump out of their skin. A moment later, John started ringing.

“You going to get that?”

“Pfft – no. I am in no hurry to die,” John said, scratching his ear and turning off the ringer.

“You can’t ignore them forever.”

“I don’t have to ignore them forever. Just long enough to get this job done.”

Rob rolled his eyes. “Just don’t break anything. Okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” John huffed. He picked up a tribal mask and put it up to his face. “Oh, no! Robbie! Help! It’s trying to take my soul!”

Rob left his cousin to writhe on the floor. He went back into the foyer of the shop, mentally identifying every herb he saw and listing off what they were used for.

Knotwood for soothing anxiety. Yerba mate for beauty and love. Eucalyptus for healing. And yew.

Rob stopped and shook his head. Yew was a highly poisonous herb and was only used for raising the spirits of the dead. He kneeled down to get a closer look. The yew was collected in a basket at the bottom of the shelf and labeled “Do Not Touch. Ask for Assistance.”

“Can I help you?”

Rob jumped, hitting his head on the shelf. He groaned and slowly backed away before standing up. He held the back of his head and winced at the lump that was forming.

Standing on the staircase, nearly hidden behind all of the shelves, a woman in her early thirties gave him a gentle and concerned smile. 

“I’m so sorry,” she spoke, with a slight accent, as if she was born in another country, but had lived in the States for many years. “I didn’t mean to startle you. Do you need an icepack?”

Rob shook his head. “No, no, I’ve had worse than this. Believe me.”

She smiled wider and gracefully descended the stairs. “My name is Elisabeth. Welcome to my humble little shop.”

“Robert.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Robert. Would you and your cousin care for some tea? I was just about to make a fresh pot. I’m sure it would keep Johnathan out of trouble.”

“Yes, I would love to keep him out of trouble – I mean, we would love some tea.”

“Care to join us, Johnathan?” the woman called.

“What?”

Crash!

Rob’s hand gingerly touched his forehead then ran down the length of his face. He suddenly looked at Elisabeth with realization. “How did you know his name?”

“You told me.”

“I – I did?” Rob shook his head, not remembering having said anything to her at all.

John came into the foyer, brushing dust off of his clothes and fixing his hair. “Oh, uh, hi.”

“Hello. Shall we?” she said, motioning for the boys to follow her. She turned from them and headed to the back of the shop, through a beaded curtain.

Rob grabbed John by the arm. “I told you not to break anything.”

“I didn’t,” John objected, pulling his arm away. “It just fell over.”

Rob rolled his eyes and pushed him through the curtains.


	4. Ch. 4

Ch. 4

Elisabeth set the tea tray on the table and handed each of them a cup. Each cup had a separate infuser, with what Rob could only guess were different teas.

“For Robert, we have chamomile and ginseng,” she said, pouring the water over the infuser.

Calm and healing, Rob thought to himself. Fitting, considering that he hadn’t been drinking anything but coffee since Dead Week.

“And for Johnathan,” Elisabeth smiled, “vanilla and hibiscus.”

Rob nearly choked on his drink. He wiped his mouth on a napkin, assuring them that he was fine. “Sorry, sorry. Hot.”

John rolled his eyes as he took a sip of his tea, not knowing that vanilla and hibiscus were primarily used for love and lust spells.

Elisabeth poured her tea last and then took her seat. It was a red colored tea, and from the scent, Rob could only guess that it was passion flower, an herb used for friendship.

“So, tell me about yourselves. What brings you to this sleepy, little town?”

“Just passing through,” Rob smiled. “But you know, the strangest thing happened at the diner this morning. You remember, John?”

“Oh, yeah, that weird car wreck,” John said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Both cars looked like they had pulled a three-sixty then crashed into each other, head-on, in the middle of the street.”

“And our waitress said that wasn’t the first time that had happened. Apparently, this has been going on for a week, now! These freak accidents.”

“That is bizarre,” Elisabeth said, sipping her tea. “I hope no one was hurt.”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t heard anything about this,” Rob said, feigning shock.

“I don’t get out much, I admit.”

John and Rob exchanged a quick look, before John spoke next. “So, I guess you haven’t heard about any other strange happenings?”

“Can’t say I have. More tea?”

Rob looked down at his cup and realized he had finished it. “Um, yes, please.”

Elisabeth stood up from the table and took their cups and the kettle back to the stove. Rob followed her with his eyes and caught sight of the clock. He smacked John’s arm and motioned at it.

John blanched. How had they been drinking tea for two hours?

Elisabeth came back with fresh cups.

“I’m afraid that we’ll need to be going after this,” Rob said. “We should have hit the road hours ago.”

“Oh, my, time sure does fly when spent with good company, doesn’t it? I can’t possibly let you leave without offering you some of my famous lemon pound cake.”

Rob perked up. He wasn’t a pie enthusiast like his cousin, but the mention of cake stirred a part of him he struggled to keep hidden on a daily basis. “That sounds wonderful.”

Elisabeth retrieved the cake from the counter. Three slices had already been cut out, ready to eat.

“Were you expecting us?” John asked, as she slid his slice onto the plate in front of him.

“I had a feeling that I was going to have visitors today.”

“What? Like a psychic feeling?”

Elisabeth laughed. “No, no, nothing like that. Just a feeling.”

“Do you not get visitors very often?” Rob inquired.

Elisabeth finished serving the cake and took her seat. “What visitors I have come seldom and are more often than not people who are just ‘passing through’ town.”

“Why is that?” John said around a mouth full of cake.

“I’m a bit of an outcast. The locals tend to avoid me like I’m carrying a horrible, contagious skin-eating virus. If you haven’t already guessed, my line of work isn’t entirely welcome in Small Town, America.”

“So, what exactly do you do?”

“I’m a prostitute.”

The boys looked up at her in confusion, making her laugh.

“I’m kidding,” she giggled. “I’m a Wiccan. A botanist by trade. I moved to this town a few years ago, opened up a new age shop and was instantly shunned by absolutely everyone. Occasionally, I’m graced with the local knitter’s club picketing my shop, but seeing as how this is a legitimate business, the city has nothing to justify shutting me down.”

“Must be hard staying in business if you’re only customers are tourists,” Rob mentioned.

“I actually have a booming online business,” she explained. “Business couldn’t be better, as far as I’m concerned.”

Rob smiled and finished off his cake. “That was delicious. Thank you again for your hospitality, but we really must get going.”

John nodded, washing down the rest of his cake with the rest of his tea. Rob tried to ignore the lack of manners, as he stood up from his seat. He reached over to collect the plates, but Elisabeth pushed his hand aside.

“Absolutely not,” she reprimanded, kindly. “No guest of mine is allowed to lift a finger. Both of you run along before Daddy Dean gives himself a heart attack.”

“We can’t leave you with this huge mess –”

“No, no, Robert, I will hear none of that! You are a true gentleman, but I trust these dishes to no one. They’ve been in my family for centuries. Now, go on. You have a road to hit and dragon to slay.”

Elisabeth shooed them out of her kitchen and to the front door. Before they left, she handed them each a small satchel of fragrant herbs. “Wood rose, for luck.”

Rob took the satchel, though part of him was hesitant to take it. “Thank you, again. For everything, Miss Elisabeth.”

“Just Elisabeth,” she smiled, patting his hand. “And if you boys happen to find yourself in my neck of the woods, my door is always open.”

The boys waved goodbye, and made their way down the pathway and through the gate. They stepped out onto the sidewalk, and a strange melancholy fell over them.

John scratched his neck, suddenly very fidgety. Rob, however, let out a big yawn then slumped his shoulders as if suddenly very tired.

“Where did we park again?” John asked.

“How the hell should I know?” Rob snapped. “It’s your damn car.”

“Whoa, dude, geez. What’s with the attitude all of the sudden?”

“What’s with misplacing the car?” Rob spat. He then shook his head. “I have no idea where that came from. I feel like all of my energy just drained out of me.”

“Why are you so tired? You just had free tea and cake! That’s like beyond awesome!”

Rob narrowed his eyes at the bouncing child that was only two years younger than he was. John didn’t seem any less annoying, so why was he feeling so exhausted?

“Did you check out of the room?” Rob asked, even though he knew the answer.

“No, why?”

“Because I’m going to go back to the motel, crash on my bed and sleep for the next three days.”

“All right, well, while you’re doing that, I’m going to go talk some people around town and find out more about our new friend.”

“Whatever,” Rob groaned. “Where was the motel again?”

“Dude, you look awful. Are you sure you’re going to make it? You look like you’re going to collapse any second now.”

“Lavender,” Rob shook his head.

“What?”

“The house was filled with lavender.”

“That’s a flower?”

“It’s used for calming and sleeping spells,” he said, rubbing his temples. “And she gave me that tea. God knows how many cups I drank.”

“Do you think she put a spell on you?”

“No, John. She tied me to a chair and slapped me in the face with a salmon! Yes! She put a spell on me!”

“Okay! Damn! Chill out! You are really grouchy when you’re tired!”

“I’m going back to the room to combat this,” Rob said. “You stay away from me until I do, or so help me, I will make boots out of your skin and give them to our parents as Christmas presents.”

“I’m going to go walk around town and let you go and take a nap or an anti-psycho pill.”

Rob and John parted ways, as Elisabeth watched from the second story window. The black cat that had led them to her leapt onto the windowsill and brushed up against her hand. She smiled at it and stroked its head with a lighthearted hum.

“Yes, Rowan, they will do perfectly.”


	5. Ch. 5

Ch. 5

John and Rob sat in the Impala, just around the corner from Elisabeth’s shop. They had been watching the house since nightfall, but there hadn’t been any activity. On his reconnaissance, John had unearthed almost nothing, other than the rest of the town truly believed that their target was a true-blue witch, even though no one had any real evidence to back them up.

Rob had spent the entire afternoon passed out on his bed, but even that didn’t break the spell. He still felt exhausted and if John didn’t stop smacking his lips as he chewed, he was going to have one less cousin.

“Dude, finally!” John said, pointing out the hooded woman locking up her house. “Just like they said, every night, she walks.”

Rob rolled his eyes at failed attempt at a spooky voice, and watched as Elisabeth made her way down the street and toward the wooded park. They both got out of the car and followed her as silently as possible. They were both excellent trackers, light-footed, impressively agile. True hunters, like their human fathers.

The park was deserted this late at night.

Elisabeth headed down one of the hiking trails, the hood of her white jacket pulled around her head, even though it was a rather warm night.

The boys kept their distance, but made sure that at least one of them never lost sight of her. Rob followed her down the path, while John stalked her from the brush. John stayed a few steps ahead, keeping his head low. 

There were lamps every fifty feet down the trail, but they only gave enough light for a small area. The trail between them was as dark as the new moon, hiding Rob from view whenever Elisabeth looked behind her.

The woman continued walking for a good hour, going deeper and deeper into the woods, long abandoning the main trails. It was getting harder to track her without the lamps, but her white jacket stood out against the black night. 

Rob snapped a twig beneath his foot and instantly ducked behind a tree. Elisabeth slowly turned around, scanning the darkness for any sight of life. Rob listened for her to start walking again, before he peeked out from his hiding place. She had turned back around and had made a fair bit of distance before he started after her again.

The trail was growing darker, but whether from the thickening tree growth or the foreboding tingling he felt on the back of his neck, Rob wasn’t sure. He could sense his cousin further up the trail, which he didn’t even know was a real trail or not anymore.

John had come to the head of the trail, where it opened into a clearing, and waited for Elisabeth to walk by him. She made her way through the overgrowth with little effort and then up a hill to a long abandoned house. He could hear the creaking boards as she walked over them and disappeared into the house.

Rob appeared shortly after and looked at the house with a heightening unease. John tapped his shoulder, and stood beside him.

“What do you think?” John asked in a whisper.

“I think she wanted us to follow her.”

“How do you figure that?”

“I smell cedar trees, lots of them,” he answered. “Cedar’s not native to this region. And they’re used for protection. If she didn’t want us to follow her, we would have gotten lost the moment we left the main trail.”

“So, we’ll be walking into a trap, then?”

“A deadly trap. I can feel a whole lot of energy coming out of that house.”

“I can feel it, too,” John sighed. John didn’t have the psychic abilities Rob had, so he often relied on his gut. However, the magic was strong enough for him to feel, and that told his gut that they may have bitten off far more than they could chew, this time.

Rob bit his lip and tried to formulate a plan. “We cannot split up. Outnumbering her is our only advantage, right now. We have no idea how powerful she truly is, and I’m pretty sure that my magic is useless at this point. I’m still exhausted, and that hike didn’t help at all.”

“So, what’s the plan? We go in there guns blazing?”

Rob shook his head. “We go in quietly.”

The boys made their way up to the door of the house, which hung loosely off of rusted hinges. The darkness made it difficult for them to tell where the floorboards ended and the big gaping holes into the basement began. They treaded carefully, one behind the other.

Rob held up his hand and John froze. The older put a finger to his lips and motioned for him to listen. They could barely make out the familiar sound of rhythmic chanting coming from above their heads. Rob went for the stairs, John following close behind.

They halted at the bottom step. The stairs were in worse condition than the floor. Rob tested the first few steps, gently adjusting his weight to each foot before continuing to the next step. He made it half-way up when John started after him. They reached the top, knives in hand.

The chanting was louder now, loud enough for them both to recognize that it was in Latin. It was coming from the end of the hall where an orange glow illuminated the top of another staircase, most likely leading into the attic.

Rob took in a deep breath. He looked at John, who nodded, urging him forward. The stairs creaked under his weight, but the chanting continued. He peeked over the landing, but his view was blocked by a large, wooden divider. He quickly hid himself behind it and peered around it.

There were lit candles all around the room, casting an unnatural glow.

Elisabeth stood in the middle of a runic sigil, a leather-bound tome in her hands. In front of her, three large mirrors floated in mid-air. Each one was framed in linden wood, carved with runes he couldn’t make out from that distance. Even though each mirror was facing her, only the middle one showed her reflection.

Elisabeth’s hands suddenly fell to her sides, but the book remained suspended in front of her. The pages began to flip over as if blown by the wind. She continued chanting over and over, her eyes frozen in their trance-like state.

“An awakening spell?” Rob thought to himself, recognizing the words. “What is she waking?”

John was at his side, shifting from foot to foot. Rob studied him out of the corner of his eye. Yes, John was often too eager and anxious, but during a hunt, he was calm and focused. Come to think of it, John had been a little more fidgety than normal. Rob had brushed it off because of how tired he had feeling, thinking that John was just being his normal annoying self, but now he wasn’t so sure.

“Hibiscus and vanilla,” he spat, quietly.

“What?” John asked under his breath.

“She put a spell on you, too!” he hissed.

“What are you talking about? I feel fine!”

“That tea you drank! It was a lust spell. You’re so full of horny juice you can’t sit still!”

John’s body stopped moving. A second later, he was bouncing again. “Nuh uh – well, no, that actually explains a lot.”

“We’re taking this bitch down, now!” Rob said, standing up to his full height. John did the same and they pushed the divider over.

It crashed to the floor, the bang resounded throughout the room.

Elisabeth stopped chanting. Her hands fell to her sides as she looked over her shoulder at them. “Hello, boys.”

“You put a spell on us!” John snapped.

Elisabeth turned to face them, lowering the hood of her jacket. The rune for eihwaz was painted on her forehead, in what Rob could only guess was blood. “I had to. That was the only way to guarantee that you follow me here.”

“You lured us here. Why?” Rob asked.

Elisabeth looked almost apologetic, but when she lifted her head, any remorse they thought they saw was gone. The mirrors behind her caught Rob’s attention. He gaped at the middle mirror, which should have shown the back of her head. Instead, she smiled at him, both in body and in reflection.

John noticed it, too, and nearly jumped out of his skin. “What the hell is going on?”

“You boys should have known better than to come here,” Elisabeth said. “I tried to show you that you were outmatched. But, then again, you are your fathers’ sons. Hard-headed bastards too stubborn for your own good.”

“We’ll show you who’s too stubborn!” John snapped.

Both Elisabeth and Rob looked at him in confusion, neither one truly certain they wanted to believe that he had just said that.

Rob refrained from slapping him. “What do you want with us?”

“Isn’t it obvious by now, Robert?” Elisabeth snapped her fingers and the other two mirrors began to change. Smoky swirls began to form into the images of two women. One looked at John with hungry desire, while the other snarled at Rob. 

“John, run,” he said, his voice cracking.

“What? Why –”

John’s voice caught in his throat as Elisabeth clenched her fists and raised her hands in the air. The boys were hoisted up and slammed into the ceiling. Elisabeth unfurled her hands, and they crashed back onto the floor, unconscious.


	6. Ch. 6

Ch. 6

Rob groaned at the pain in his head. His mind was a blur, and trying to focus made him sick. A concussion, probably. But how did he get the concussion? He couldn’t remember what had happened before he passed out, and the lights in this place, wherever this place was, were too bright for him at the moment.

He tried to move his arm, but something was holding it down. He flexed his fingers, realizing they were on the verge of going numb, and discovered that his hands had been tied together, behind his back.

Rob felt movement behind him, followed by the grunt of a rudely awoken John. Rob forced himself to open his eyes, only making his headache worse. He blinked until his eyes adjusted, and returned his cousin’s grunt with an equally displeased moan.

“Rob?” John’s voice croaked. “What did we do last night?”

“I – I don’t know,” Rob said, trying to untie the ropes around his hands. The knot was impossible to reach and the ropes were too tight, even if he dislocated his thumb. Not to mention that he had completely lost feeling in his fingers, now.

He looked around the room, trying to get his bearings. A mirror hung on the wall in front of him. No, not hung. It wasn’t attached to anything, as far as he could tell. The mirror was just floating there. The reflection allowed him to see that a similar mirror hovered in front of John.

The rest of the room was littered with candles, each with a different rune on them. At least, he thought they were runes. His vision wasn’t all that perfect to begin with and this headache wasn’t making matters any easier.

There was a third mirror in the northern part of the room. A woman in a white jacket stood in front of it, mixing herbs on an altar.

“Elisabeth,” he breathed, the memory of the witch’s spell coming back to him.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” she smiled, not turning away from the altar. She seemed to be making some kind of potion, but he couldn’t tell what kind of herbs she was using.

“If you had worked faster, he wouldn’t be!” a voice snapped, close to his ear.

Rob turned quickly only to see the ghostly image of an angry woman in the mirror. She snarled at him, slashing the air a hairbreadth from his face.

“Patience, Patience,” Elisabeth huffed. “I only have two hands.”

“But I want his body now!” squealed another voice. Rob could feel John squirm behind him and heard his boots scraping against the floor as if trying to get away from something.

The woman’s image made it impossible to see what was going on, but if whatever it was continued, John would start making one of various high-pitched noises that would help him decipher the situation.

“Eh! No, no!” John whined, sliding down in his chair, despite his restraints. “Eh!”

The slimmer mirror ghost woman reached out for him, stroking the air above his body with a not-so-innocent intent. “I can’t wait to have your body,” she hissed, gleefully. “You’re muscles look so firm and strong!”

“Eh!”

That was the cry of unwanted physical contact, Rob noted. A rare sound for John to make, but in this current situation, he would probably be making that sound too.

“Calm yourself, Chastity,” Elisabeth warned. “They’re not ready yet. You can’t go touching whoever you want.”

“Just one little touch?” Chastity pleaded.

“What on earth is taking you so long, sister?” the one named Patience spat, impatiently. “You’ve been at this for an hour! I would have never taken this long!”

“And that’s why you’re not doing it!” Elisabeth snapped. “If you took a moment to think instead of criticizing me, you wouldn’t be so eager to rush such a complicated spell!”

“What’s so complicated? You put the herbs in the water, you chant a little spell, and that’s that! We’re the ones that have to do all of the hard work!”

“Oh, yes, the hard work,” Elisabeth huffed. “Because finding suitable hosts for the immortal souls of two hack witches is so easy! Do you know what I had to do to even get these mongrels to Clauseburg? Fifty years, I’ve been doing everything short of painting a big red sign on the front of my house saying ‘A Witch Lives Here!’ For fifty years, I have turned half of this town into toads, caused more car wrecks than Hollywood could ever imagine, and I have single-handedly turned every Goody Sarah into jealous, sex-starved matrons whose husbands dream of five-foot-eleven super models! And not once in those fifty years did either of you ever say ‘Good job, Elisabeth!’ No, It’s always ‘Why are you wasting time, Elisabeth?’ or ‘Stop being lazy, Elisabeth!’ I have half a mind to walk out of that door right now, and just let you watch as your new bodies die and rot into nothing!”

“You wouldn’t do that? Would you, Elisabeth?” Chastity pleaded.

“Of course, she wouldn’t!” Patience spat. “She wouldn’t dare.”

Elisabeth turned away from her sister’s mirror. “I wouldn’t have to do anything at all if you two simpletons hadn’t gotten your last bodies killed in the first place.”

“That wasn’t our fault!” Patience hissed.

“Oh, do you forgive me,” Elisabeth sniffed. “I didn’t realize that driving your car over a cliff to escape from the police or getting caught sleeping with the mayor by his homicidal wife wasn’t either of your faults! Here I am, in the same body I had five-hundred years ago when we first performed this godforsaken spell, ignorantly blaming my poor, wretched blame-less sisters – the one who can’t seem to understand that just because she is a witch doesn’t mean she can do whatever the hell she wants and get away with it, and the other one who can’t see two feet in front of her because she’s lying on her back all the time!”

“Oh, yes, Goody Elisabeth never does anything wrong! Goody Elisabeth always plays it so safe!” Patience mocked.

“Goody Elisabeth never has any fun!” Chastity giggled.

Elisabeth picked up the bowl she had been mixing in and held it up for them to see. The sisters went quiet. She looked at each of them in turn, before stepping into the runic sigil. “Take good care of these bodies, sisters. I went through a great deal of trouble to lure them here, and I will not tolerate either of you wasting all of my hard work!”

“Yes, yes,” Patience said, more interested in the concoction in Elisabeth’s hands.

Elisabeth held the bowl over the boys’ heads and spoke a short spell. She then lowered the bowl and stepped between John and Chastity. She dipped her finger into the red slime and then drew the eihwaz rune on his forehead. She repeated this with Rob then returned to her altar, though not stepping out of the sigil.

Rob struggled against the ropes on his wrists just as Patience stepped out of her mirror and stood in front him. He could hear John whining, and knew that the same thing was happening with him and Chastity. Elisabeth clapped her hands together, getting everyone’s attention.

As she opened them, the large tome appeared in her palms. The pages flipped by themselves until they came to a certain page and lay still.

“I’ll try to make this quick, boys,” she said. “I like you too much to have you suffer for long.”

“Why are you doing this to us?” Rob asked, edging away from Patience’s touch.

Elisabeth shook her head. “Because they are my sisters, my family. And family is everything.”

Rob saw a strange light flash over her eyes before she blinked and turned her attention to the book in her hands. He then felt the rope around his wrists loosen, slightly. As she began to chant the beginning of the spell, Rob pulled his wrist free from his binds.

Elisabeth’s voice was joined by her sisters’ and the three of them chanted the spell as they had for the last five hundred years. 

Patience placed a hand on top of Rob’s head and stared deeply into his eyes. They were fierce and yellow, forcing him to stare back. Despite her nature, her voice was soft and flowed from her lips like a lullaby. He felt his eyelids grow heavy, and his head began to droop.

Chastity had straddled John’s legs and was tentatively running a finger over his lips, making his throat go dry. She whispered the words of the spell into his ear, making him throw his head back with a moan, one of her hands lightly trailing down his chest.

Rob bit down hard on his tongue, waking him up instantly. Ignoring the taste of blood in his mouth, he jumped to his feet and swung his chair through Patience’s ethereal form and smashed it into the mirror. Patience screeched as her body began to burn then incinerated into ash. 

Elisabeth and Chastity stopped. Rob pulled John’s chair away from Chastity and threw his own into her mirror, smashing it as he had Patience’s. Chastity’s cries and the putrid smell of burning flesh filled the air and then she was gone.

Rob untied John quickly and the two of them faced Elisabeth. She watched them closely, waiting to see what they would do next.

John lunged, but she evaded him. Rob grabbed her and knocked the book from her hands, then kicked it across the floor and out of the sigil. It disappeared.

John got his balance and leaned on the altar. He heard Elisabeth inhale sharply. He and Rob nodded to each other. John pushed the altar over, knocking it into the final mirror.

Elisabeth’s reflection shattered and the mirror’s glass exploded into harmless, glittering dust.

Elisabeth screamed as if she had been stabbed, and fell to her knees. John unsheathed his knife, but Rob motioned for him to stay back.

Elisabeth sat with her head hung, barely breathing. She swayed slightly and toppled onto her side. Rob tapped her with his foot and she rolled unceremoniously onto her back.

“Is she dead?”

Rob nodded, rubbing at his wrists where the ropes had cut into his skin. “Let’s get out of here.”


	7. Ch. 7

Ch. 7

The ’67 Impala stopped just inside of the junkyard’s gate. John put it into park and took a deep breath. Rob squeezed his shoulder and gave him an encouraging smile.

John nodded and put his hand on the gear shift. He let it linger there for a moment before putting it back into drive and then rolling the car all the way through the gate and up to the back of the house next to the workshop.

No sooner had he switched off the ignition than the back door of the house slammed open and his father stepped out onto the gravel path, wiping his greasy hands with an equally greasy rag.

Neither one of the boys got out of the car. John looked to his older cousin for advice, but for once Rob had none to give.

“He’s going to kill me.”

“Yeah, well, he was going to kill twenty-four hours ago, too. So, it wouldn’t matter if you were a day late or not.”

Dean came around to the driver’s side of the car and tapped on the window. When John didn’t move, Rob leaned over him and rolled it down. Dean rested his arms on the window frame, continuing to run the rag through his hands as if to stop himself from doing the same to his son’s neck.

“How was the drive?”

“Good,” John said, not making eye contact.

“That’s good,” Dean said, unlocking and opening the door. “Glad to hear it.”

John gave his cousin the look of a man about to be hung for his crimes, before sliding out of the car and clearing the door before his father slammed it shut. 

“Mind telling me why the hell it took you a whole day to make a six hour drive?” His was talking through his teeth, trying not to yell. That was a good sign. Or a bad one. It all depended on how many beers he had the night before.

“Heavy traffic.”

“Heavy traffic, huh? That’s funny because when I checked every route from Lawrence to here, it was clear sailing.”

“Come on, Dad, traffic’s crazy and unpredictable,” John laughed, before swallowing the lump that had instantly formed in his throat.

“I found out about your little email forwarding thing, too. I know you went to Nebraska looking for that witch.”

This was bad.

John looked at Rob, who had the hindsight to stand on the opposite side of the car. Once again, he had nothing to offer to the conversation.

“We took care of her,” John said, kicking at the dirt.

“You could have been killed!”

“Well, we weren’t! We’re both very much alive!”

“Neither one of you have any business going up against a witch,” Dean spat.

“But we –”

“Do not argue with me on this! Cas was worried sick! You are too young and too inexperienced to be going up against a goddamn witch!”

John lowered his head so his father couldn’t see him rolling his eyes.

“And don’t get me started on you,” Dean said, pointing at Rob. “You’re supposed to be the responsible one! You’re lucky I don’t call my brother and tell him what his son allowed his nephew to talk him into.”

Rob bit his lip and rubbed the back of his neck.

“You could call Uncle Gabe,” John muttered. “He’d think it was hilarious.”

He shut up instantly when Dean turned on him. “There is nothing funny about two idiots trying to get themselves killed. And on top of that, you got your sister involved! What if something had happened to her? Did you ever once think of her?”

This time John didn’t care that his father saw him rolling his eyes. “She’s fine. I checked her out before we even hit the road this morning.”

“You checked the tire pressure –”

“Yes.”

“The oil levels –”

“Yes, Dad.”

“And –”

“I filled up as soon as we got to town.”

Dean shifted his weight and stabbed a finger in the boy’s face. “If I find a single scratch on her –”

“Dead deer, I know, Dad.”

Dean nodded and waved him on toward the house. John broke into a run around the car, meeting Rob on the other side. They didn’t make it far before the back door of the house opened again, revealing Castiel holding two mugs, one in each hand. He handed them to the boys, who stared at each other before taking them.

“Pater,” John said, cocking an eyebrow. “These are empty.”

“Yes,” Cas said, matter-of-factly. “I am upset with you.”

The boys looked at each other, neither one really sure what to say. Though Cas had lived in this world for more than twenty years, certain concepts were still foreign to him. Concepts like expressing emotions in a human-like manner, for example.

“Would you like something to drink?” he asked them.

“Yes?” John replied.

“Then get it yourself.”

John blinked then made a gasp of realization as he looked down at the cup. “Oh! I get it now.”

Rob looked at him with an expression that was a mix of confusion and amazement. Before he could comment, one of the Impala’s doors slammed shut, catching them all by surprise.

“Johnathan Samuel Winchester! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?”

John and Rob both recognized the satchel of herbs he had gotten from the witch. 

“I thought you threw that away,” Rob whispered.

“Oops.”

\--

The lace curtains billowed in the breeze. It was an unusually cool day for Nebraska in June, so all the windows had been opened to allow in the much welcome draft. 

The breeze caught the scent of the dried lavender and carried it throughout the house. The air filled with the sound of chimes as the wind picked up strength. The bundles of herbs rustled, some even jumping out of their baskets and rolling along the floor.

A gust of wind caught the “Open” sign and flipped it around so that it read “Closed” to any would-be patrons. 

The black cat slinked along the front porch’s railing. He watched as the taxi driver took the brand new suitcase from the woman standing in the open gate.

“Is this it, ma’am?”

“Yes,” she said. She looked as if she had stepped out of the 1950s, wearing a white rockabilly dress with a wide navy belt around her waist and a matching sailor cap on her head. She wore a pair of white rimmed sunglasses that covered half of her face.

“How long will you be gone?”

The woman turned to take a final look at the house, knowing it was going to be the last time she would ever see the place she called home for the last fifty years. She turned to the man with a broad smile and shrugged. “Long enough, I suppose.”

The cat leapt from the railing and padded along the ground. He brushed up against her legs and mewed pathetically.

She stroked his head and sighed. “I know, Rowan, I know. But you better be good while I’m gone. Watch after this place, you hear me?”

The cat meowed, receiving another scratch behind his ears.

“Goodbye, my darling,” she said, softly.

“Better leave now if we’re going to get you to the airport in time,” the driver said, holding the door open for her. She nodded and slid into the backseat, gathering her skirt beneath her.

The driver closed the door and made his way to the front of the car. He buckled into his own seat and put the taxi into drive. “So, you traveling to see family?”

“Oh, no, I’ve had my fill of family,” she laughed, watching the town of Clauseburg pass her by as they drove through it for the last time.

“So, vacation then? Where to?”

“Everywhere.”


End file.
